Am I the Only one?

[rufus]

Fact is, there are some great less expensive lures and some great expensive lures. I still throw my $3.00 Bill Lewis Rat-l-Traps and on the same outing throw my $15.99 Chartruese Shad Pointer 100's. The expensive baits generally are ready to fish out of the box. The hooks are sharp, they run true without need of tuning, have very unique color patterns (that are generally made for clearer water), etc. I am not saying that you can't get all of this out of a less expensive bait, because you now can, but you really couldn't before the Lucky Craft era came about. Some of the first "overpriced" baits to come out were the Rico and the Iovino Splash-it. I paid $25 for my first Rico and $18.99 for my first Splash-it. There was no gimmick to them, basically they improved the original Pop-R and they absleeperley without a doubt outfished the unmodified Pop-R in clear water 95% of the time. Before they came out I would shave the lower lip change the trebles and put a feathered treble on the back. It was very difficult to make a perfect Pop-R, but after 2-3 tries on different ones I would get one to work perfect. These expensive versions came out "with the upgrades" and no longer did I have to try to make the perfect Pop-R I just had to lay down a little extra cash and I had one right out of the box. I know there is a "satisfaction" factor to tuning your own or making your own bait and having it work, but when I am at home I need to spend time with my wife and kids and not in my garage working on baits. I am not very artistic anyway and they rarely turned out right. For me, I would rather pay a little extra to have someone else do it for me. I am not saying that my box is full of Lucky Craft's or C-Flashes, but they are there and they are baits that come tourney day are tied on because they flat out catch fish. These baits have a unique action that are designed by some of the best because they have certain qualities that the big names of the sport want to see put into these baits. For the most part if you pay more than $10 for a bait it is not a "gimmick". We all here that if you have confidence in a bait or technique that is what we should stick with, but I have been whipped wayyy too many times by being stubborn and not exploring new possibilities. I, too, did not want to purchase the high dollar Pointer 100s when they came out. My father-in-law however had to try them. At that time, I used the discontinued Rebel Tracdown Minnows (or as we call them around here Sinking Rebels). I had won a lot of money on my Rebels and had a ton of conifidence in them (I still do). My first ever large tourney win came on them and several more after that. They are not an expensive bait, just hard to get. Well, we were fishing a small tourney one day shortly after he bought the Pointers. Now, it was extremely rare to have anyone fishing behind me throwing a jerkbait to catch very many, unless they came to the front and traded casts with me. My f-i-law usually stays in the back and catches any leftovers and is fine with that. This particular day he handed me my first back of the boat whipping I had ever had with a jerkbait. He limited in an hour and culled all day. I weighed in 1 fish that I caught off a bed and he handily won the club tourney. I was too stubborn to throw his Pointer and made only a few casts with it. I attributed it to the day and conditions and the lake and all the other stuff I wanted to and continued to throw my Rebel and had several (and I do mean several) whippins from him over the course of the next month. I finally gave in and purchased my first Pointer and have not looked back. My Rebels still have there days, but the Pointer outfishes them 90% of the time. I am no longer as stubborn as I was 10 years ago and learned from my ego trip the hard way.
I realize that just because a bait costs $20 does not necessarily mean it's better than anything else, but they do have their specific place. Any given day you can win a tourney on the bargain bin special. That is what is great about bass fishing. They are specialty baits that definitely have a place in our highly pressured bass fisheries of the day. If they give me a little edge or will catch one or two more fish in a tourney then they are worth it to me.
Just so you know this is all coming from a guy who had a really good late summer, early fall on Erie winning the Skeeter Owner's tourney, finishing 12th and 6th in the last two BFL's. All these fish were caught on a clearance bin tube that cost $1.00 a pack  . (I owned all those tubes after one trip to the lake, but I can't remember the color  )
Sorry for writing a book, just my 2 cents. God Bless Everyone!

[TCook]

Rufus, whats your take on those C-flash's? Are they worth the money?

[thedude]

i'll spend the $$ on a good deal. Its not hard to find pointers for 10-12$ shipped and thats a fair price for the quality of bait you're getting, just gotta keep your eye out for 'em. Compare it to the retail of an XRap at 7.50-8$ a pop. I have a bunch of xraps that won't  catch a darn fish (except crappie and pike). I have a handfull of xraps i'd gladly get rid of and replace with 1 lucky craft.

Although i will say - my 5$ spro jerkbaits loaded the boat last spring on the other hand.

[McCarter]

I played with several jerkbaits over the weekend.  The water temps saturday were up to 42 and yesterday were up to almost 46.  Out of a smithwick rogue, rapala x rap, jackall squad minnow, spro mcStick, lucky craft pointer 100, and x calibur twitch, only 2 of them actually suspended.  The LC and the Xcal.  Both $12-$15 jerkbaits.  I was using 10 lb monofilament line.  It depends on what you want from a lure.  If you just want a chunk of plastic with hooks that will dart back and forth in the water when twitched, buy whatever is cheapest.  If you want something that will suspend perfectly in the water, and have a nice bob to it when paused, premium hooks, and killer color schemes, buy a high end bait.  you dont have to buy 20 of them.  Just buy one and play around with it.  I dont like paying that much for lures, but i know they work better than others in certain situations so i will have those on hand as well.  Now, once the water temps get up to about 50 and the fish get a little more active, a suspending rogue will out fish the LC becuase it doesnt actually suspend.  It will float slowly back to the surface and for whatever reason this triggers more bites.  There are dozens of jerkbaits on the market.  They all cost different amounts and no 2 offer exactly the same properties.  They are all tools.  You need different tools to accomplish different tasks. 

McCarter himself

[BigSmallie]

Jack & TCook:

I would love to cut a deal with you on my LC's....but I thought I had more than I actually do!!     I only have 5......I thought I had about 12 or so.     

Even though I've had bad luck with my LC's.....I've been fishing long enough to know I need a variety of baits......so I'm going to hang on to the only 5 I have and hope for the best.     

Perhaps this year will be the year they out fish my other jerkbaits.........who knows.....I'm sure some day they'll work for me......they seem to work for everyone else!  LOL!

BS 

[bassassasin88]

I buy maybe 10 high end lures a year. I kind of like to collect them. This year its the spro bbz4 shad, tru tungsten real life shad, sebile magic swimmer, ima flit, ima skimmer and a few lucky crafts. They just look so cool. Im also looking at the strike king flat shad, or the ima shaker.

[Lightningboy]

As I said before, I'll use whatever works, at most any price.

But I am enough of a realist to step back and admit that prices today can be, pardon my french, F'n insane! 

Every now and then it gets to me too.  New boats are $50K.  Don't get me started on outboard parts, I'm still burned over the $600 I had to drop for an alternator.  A new curado, the "chevy truck" of reels is touching $200.  Is it any wonder a good crank can cost $15-20?

But we gotta remember we're really just buying tools.  Sometimes Milwaukee or Bosh is the way to go, but for some jobs Harbor Freight stuff is just fine.  You never know until you give 'em a shot.

One of the best moves I ever made was to switch to falcon FTO's.  They cradle the baits well, and prevent tangles.  But more important to me is that I can only fit so many in the box!  My shallow crank box holds 22 baits.  They need to be the 22 that I know work.  If something hasn't been working, time to make a cut.  New bait?  It gets a season trial.  If it works it stays, but somebody else has to go.  Sometimes I feel like a coach; "sorry mr bandit, but you haven't been producing lately, we're gonna have to cut ya".   

I've got $25 megabass Ito's I wouldnt part with.  I also love $1.99 paca chunks.  Don't want to pay for the big $$ baits?  Good; less chance you'll wiggle one in front of mr. bass before I do.  I'll pay for good baits that most bass haven't seen, whether with $$ or my time finding discontinued baits.

BTW- every boat should have a retreiver on board.  I carry two; one on heavy line for deep snags, and an extendable for those screwy trees that jump in the way.  I might lose two cranks in a year.

[rufus]

TCook, Anyone you may talk to that have the Cflashes and actually use them will tell you "There is just something about that crankbait". Critics will often say "You pay that much for something you should have confidence in it". Well they are in fact a little magical. I have no ties to them and am not really a crankbait fisherman at all, but when I am throwing one many times that is what I am throwing. As a matter of fact in the BFL Super Tourney last year on the second day Anthony asked me why I wasn't throwing a crankbait like everyone else  . I told him I had this stupid ugly tube that they were all thinking about. Seriously, though, if you like to crank they are a very good investment to your arsenal. If you are fishing the BFL's this year as a coangler you may want to consider having a couple. There is a good chance you will draw somebody on a cranking bite that is using one.

[BryanP]

Skeeterman--Might want to double check your Smithwicks because they're made in Mexico!

TCook--I take all of your CFlash's if you decide to sell them

[TCook]

I bought two last fall and cought so many smallies on them mostly on Erie practicing for the BFL's that most of the finish wore off. I already have alot of confidence in them just wondered what your opinion was since you use them and are one of the better sticks around. I been buying a few over the winter here and there and currently have 15 in my arsenal. Oh and Bryan I can guarantee I wont be selling them   .

T